On Rachel's birthday last week, Richard and I took the day off from work. Actually, Rachel wasn't feeling well - she was running a fever - so we canned our initial plan to take her to Universal Studios to watch Elmo in the Sesame Street show. Instead, we took her out for a quiet lunch at Blue Potato. We had the restaurant all to ourselves, probably because it was a super hot day. It was a nice, relaxing meal and we had a very dedicated server who offered to take this photo for us.

Babydoll chooses what to wear every morning and I was pleased as punch that, on her birthday, she chose this dress that I'd sewn for her. I made it slightly larger than her current size and hung it up in her wardrobe, not expecting her to wear it for a while, so it was a nice surprise that she picked it out. I felt really happy to have contributed to her special day. This pattern is the Ice Cream Dress from Oliver + S.

After lunch, we headed over to Ryan's preschool as they were having a big party for all the K1 classes. Babydoll enjoys hanging out at Ryan's preschool so, apart from the heat, it was all good.

Given the unhappy and untimely circumstances of the actual day, we arranged a little staycation at The Fairmont over the weekend. After all, a babydoll's birthday must be celebrated properly! Babydoll had recovered from her fever by that time, so she was more than ready for a getaway and, of course, the rest of us were too.

Richard and babydoll checked into the hotel after lunch on Saturday and babydoll napped while I took Ryan to his friend Harry's birthday party. Richard told me that, when babydoll woke up from her nap, she searched the whole room for Ryan and me, eventually picking up the telephone in the hotel room asking, "Hello, mama? Hello kor kor?"

Of course, we soon reunited and all was well.

After a sumptuous dinner at Szechuan Court Restaurant, we blew out the candles and wished babydoll all the goodness in the world. Happy birthday darling!

We had the most amazing view of the Singapore city skyline from our room.

This was the view in the morning, complete with two mischievous munchkins. The four of us slept together in the king-sized bed. We slept really well - when we woke up the next day, it was nearly 10 am. At home, we normally get up around 7-8 am.

As with all staycations, swimming in the pool is mandatory, followed by a good hot bath back in the room. Our room didn't have a bathtub so babydoll improvised with the sink.

Here we are, checking out the next day. Babydoll is wearing another dress sewn by me about two weeks ago. This is the Persimmon Dress from Willow & Co, designed by Mouse House Creations. I think the dress can't be well appreciated from these photos - I'll show you a better photo tomorrow.